1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to contact information management methods and systems, and more particularly to linking contact information to keep contact information current.
2. Background
The present invention addresses deficiencies of traditional contact information management methods and systems used to enter, store, retrieve, update, and share contact information of any kind including but not limited to home telephone number, work telephone number, fax number, e-mail address, and mailing address. Traditional contact information management systems utilize a physical book or an electronic storage device, which contains names, addresses, phone numbers, or other contact information. The user initially enters contact information into the book or electronic storage device to have contact information available for future lookups, e.g., when the user needs to place a call to one of his contacts and requires the appropriate phone number information. This kind of information storage is of static nature and changes to contact information require the user to perform the necessary changes and adjustments to the contact information record in the physical book or electronic storage device. As contact information changes frequently many updates are not properly communicated and not adjusted accordingly—resulting in out-dated or inaccurate contact information records in the physical book or electronic storage device. Even many publicly available contact information sources including but not limited to phone directories are not updated instantaneously, but only periodically, e.g., white pages published on an annual basis, leading to information deficiencies.